 |
| The local gas station in Magunga |
Wednesday, March 13, we left Nyabange and drove to the town
of Magunga, a small town in western Kenya, around 50 kilometers west of the
town of Homa Bay. This is Victoria Diocese of Kenya Mennonite Church, with
around 10-12 churches. It is a scenic, hilly area, and in the background are
the Gwassi Hills, which separate Magunga from Lake Victoria to the west. It is
a more isolated area than most, with no paved roads, no running water, and
electric and even cell phone service was not reliable.
 |
| Joe, Bishop Elisha Osewe, Pastor Charles Kimwamu in front of Kigoto Mennonite Church |
 |
| Pulpit built 40 years ago by missionary Clyde Shenk |
We came to conduct the “training of trainers” for pastors who
will train others to prepare them for church leadership. The training was
scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so we planned to arrive
Wednesday. When we arrived, we discovered that, in spite of our efforts to
clarify, they were planning for Thursday to be the arrival day, with the actual
training beginning Friday morning. But they were very gracious, and agreed to
begin on Thursday with those who could attend. In all, about 25 attended the
training. Some came out of curiosity, or simply the desire for Bible teaching.
Others have committed to conduct training groups in their home areas.
The main church here is Kigoto Mennonite Church. The
building was built by missionary Clyde Shenk in the early 1970’s, using corrugated
iron sheets for both roof and walls. The Mennonite families who began the
church had moved here from Tanzania in the 1960’s and 1970’s. They were
originally from Kenya, but moved to Tanzania for land. When Tanzania gained independence
and moved toward socialism, some of them moved back to Kenya, but found their
family lands were not available, so they settled in areas where land was still
available. In time, they began holding church services.
This is different from Tanzania, where Mennonite churches
spread to other areas of the country as people moved to the cities for
education and jobs. In Kenya, the spread was to other rural areas in search of
land, less to the cities (with the exception of Nairobi).
 |
| Seminar participants in worship |
In Victoria Diocese, we faced more of a language barrier
than anyplace we have been so far, due to two factors. One is that Luo is the
main language. Many can function in Swahili, and some in English, but Luo is
the “heart language” and other languages present difficulty. The second factor
is that those without higher education (beyond primary school) are primarily
oral in their communication. They can read and write, but it is not a natural
way to communicate. The written word just does not have the same impact as the
spoken word, and it seemed to affect how well they understood the Bible.
Several do not even own a Bible, because they are not available locally. To us,
it raised the question of how to best present the training so it is understood.
That is an issue we will continue to look at.
 |
| Ezron Ojambi, 84, one of the early members, walked daily about 6 miles each way to attend the seminar. |
Now we are back in Nyabange, Tanzania, where we expect to
spend the next few weeks, working on additional study materials.
Just this update: we have been told that our residence permit applications have been submitted to the Tanzania immigration. Thanks for praying about it. We hope to hear soon whether the applications have been accepted, and then they need to be processed. In the meantime, we continue to be "tourists" in Tanzania.
